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Tale of A Courier - Session 1
You found yourself in quite an interesting predicament. Seems perhaps getting that few bottles of alcohol from a corner-side man in a trenchcoat was a bad idea. In the end you're still staring at a barrel. 0"W-wait, hold on!" 4Genuflect. 2". . ." The man raises an eyebrow as you drop to one knee. This lasts only for a moment as he bursts into laughter. "Well. Well. That's new. You're new here aren't you?" 1"Can you get the gun out of my face first?" 3". . .Yeah." 0"Is this the normal greeting?" He lowers the pistol, but doesn't holster. "New guys always give interesting reactions. The usual smugglers just pull out their own gun or grovel. Where you from, kid?" 1". . .So, really, this is the normal greeting?" 4"How do you know I'm just not feigning naivety?" 0"An outer village. . ." "Smugglers and their lackies are good at gunfights and sneaking. Not subtlety." He taps the pistol, an audible ting of metal. "Didn't put this away either. What're you here for?" 1"Well. . .I got this bodyguard assignment. . ." 3"Was hoping to make some more money here. Running jobs." 0"Got a request from relatives. Something about engineering." He holsters his pistol now. "Upcoming Runner, huh? Well, get good enough, and I might see you again down the line." He picks up the dropped bottles of alcohol from the ground. 0"So. . .um. . .what was the whole pointing the gun at me about?" 5"Right. . .thanks, I guess." 0"I guess there's something against. . .beer here?" He dusts himself off and places the bottle underneath his coat. You exchange some farewells despite the awkward first impression. Barely into the city, and prohibition laws hit hard already. 0Head towards the square. 4Pull out and read that offer letter again. You read that letter again. From your 'childhood friend' if you will. In reality you haven't seen her in almost a decade. Suddenly she sends a letter telling you about a shot for money in the largest city on the planet. 3"Hm. . .says to meet in the square at noon." 0Try to picture what she would look like now. 2". . ." You emerge into the square. Rotating gears above shroud the entire area in their shadows. People are a plenty, and you wonder how the hell to find her. 4"Well she had gold eyes and red hair. . ." 1"Maybe she'll find me instead." 3Start wandering around without a clue. You start looking around without anything else but that. You notice quite a lot of redheads in your endeavor, though. You're about to give up when you hear a voice behind you., "Hey is that you MC-kun?!" 0". . .How the hell." 1". . ." 4Turn around. Facing her, you notice a figure about a head and a half shorter than you. Her eyes beam through loose locks of hair, and you can't help but think that the last 10 years were good on her. Very good. 0". . .Long time no see." 4"You got. . .bigger." 0"How the hell did you find me?" 2"Sorry, its hard not to notice stuff like that." Her figure WAS accented pretty well by that frilly dress she was wearing. Even if you didn't mean it that way, she certainly took it that way, "Ten years and that's the first thing you notice?" She folded her arms. 3"Wait, I didn't mean it like that. . .I mean you got.. . .taller?" 2"What can I say?" She didn't quite believe you, and pouted. "You're still taller. By a lot." She suddenly embraces you, "Makes this easier though. It's. . .been a while." 2"Those taller things are um. . ." 3Hug her back, "Yeah, been a long time Lena." 1Enjoy that soft "dress" for a little while longer. She lets go and backs up with a smile, "We have a lot of catching up to do. . .um, there's a cafe nearby, or maybe the park. . ." She turns ever which way pointing at general directions. 3"Cafe sounds good." 0"How about the park, then?" 1"First. . .about this letter." "Alrighty! Cmon." She grabs your hand and starts leading you there. As you leave the square, you notice the rather advanced gearwork and steamworks of the inner city. They seem infinitely more advanced than what you're used to seeing. 1"Hell of a city. . ." 0". . .How old is this place again?" 6Silently let her drag you to the cafe. She pulls you around for a while, before stopping in front of a terrace cafe. You take a seat at a table with her, and wave down a waiter. 2"An espresso please." 2"Latte." 5"Cappuccino, thanks." The waiter nods as you two finish your orders and heads inside. The constant whistling of steam inside can be heard even out there. You face Lena. 2"So about that offer you mailed me about." 2"What have you been up to to contact me out of the blue like that?" 3"Black, huh? Didn't take you for that." "Eh heh, guess I just got a taste for bitter things." She rubs the back of her head and sticks her tongue out. "Anyway, you're probably wondering about that offer now, huh?" 0"Yeah. . .about that." 3"That can wait, we got some catching up to do don't we?" "Guess we have plenty of time for that. The offer isn't time restricted. Good for you." She leans forward onto the table, "So before I get to you, what do you want to know?" 2"What have you been up to these last 10 years?" 3"Got a boyfriend?" 2"Whats with the fancy dress?" A semi perplexed look appears on her face, "You seriously can't be that desperate, right? But. . .no. Its been ten years, it'd be kinda weird." 1"Nah, I just wanted to see if someone was crazy enough." 0"Hey I just wanted to see my chances." 4"Oh good, someones finally in the same boat." "Eh heh. . .I'm not sure if its just my luck that every guy here isn't my type or something. Same problem with you?" She scratches her cheek, laughing a bit awkardly. 3"I guess you can say that." 1"Maybe they were afraid of how direct you are. Haven't changed at all." Shes somewhat flushed you notice. "Well, lets get back to you. Where have you been for the entire time?" 0"Quick topic change huh?" 5"You know. Fighting robots. Searching for treasure. Saving the world." 1"Absolutely nothing of worth unfortunately." Your drinks finally arrive. The waiter sets them in from of you as Lena seems to be laughing off your response, "Still joking around I see. Too bad, guess you got nothing better to tell me, huh?" 2"I was hoping that offer was gonna spice things up." 1"Not true. . .there's the, uh. Farming." 3"More importantly, what have YOU been doing?" "Oh well, I guess I've been getting myself involved fairly high up on the social ladder here so to speak." She sips her coffee, "I suppose I should tell you about that offer now, huh?" 0"Yeah sure." 3Give yourself a foam mustache to show your anticipation. 0"First, how high on that ladder are we talking?" She stifles a laugh as you wriggle the new-found mustache around. "R-right. I'll take that as a yes. Basically a lot of high profile people need message couriers. Can't send them over the lines since they're unsecured. 3"So, I'll become one of these couriers?" 1"Are you one of those high profiles now?" 0"And you are one of these couriers?" "Yup. I'm running on a bit of an assumption you still climb around like we used to. We usually run the upper rafters and shaft mechanisms of the place." She motions to the overlying network of gears above. 4"You're lucky I still need to make like a monkey to get away from people." 0"I'm a bit. . .rusty." 0"Isn't that fairly dangerous? I mean the moving parts. . ." "Good good. Guess I'll just run you through some of the more finer points of running on those moving parts. Or rather how to avoid them mostly." She finishes her drink, "Oh, and are you good with guns?" 3"I guess I can place a few shots here and there." 1"No." 0"What needs to be shot?" "Well I guess that's good enough. I'll get you into practice later." She rummages through a bag she was carrying, and places a pistol on the table, sliding it over. 1You look at it. It seems masterfully designed and built. 0Picking it up gingerly, you readily note its not loaded and set it back down. 0"Its unfortunate, but we have to use those a lot." 0You nod, coming to realize what exactly you're getting yourself into. 1The pay will be good, but in the end you're still tangling yourself up with a bunch of aristocrats. 0Thinking back, perhaps you'll be meeting that gentleman in the trenchcoat a lot sooner than you anticipated. 1SESSION 1 / SOME STEAMWORK SHIT / END